Universal Description, Discovery and Integration (UDDI) provides a protocol for providing a requestor of a service location with one or more service locations. A service location is an address, text string, or data that identifies or locates a service. A service location may include one or more of a network address, e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) address of 122.233.22.1, a domain name such as www.uspto.gov, a port number, e.g., 2343, a path name such as /bookinventory/scientific, a network protocol, and an email address. One example of a service location is http://www.uspto.gov:2243/bookinventory/scientific. Another example of a service location is scientificbooks@uspto.gov. A Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) may qualify as a service location.
In the UDDI model, service locations are published in a UDDI registry or database. Additionally, information about the service, such as which protocols the service uses may also be placed in the UDDI registry.
In the UDDI model, a client requests a location of a service from a UDDI server. The server then queries the UDDI registry to map the client request to a service location. Then, the server returns a service location to the client. Typically, the client then uses the service location to access the service.